Here you can follow our sailing from Sweden to the Mediterranian.We have a new yacht s/y Carpe Diem, Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 40. Of practical reasons we are still using the homepage of our previous yacht s/y Xavita.

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The outclearance from Cuba is a quick
business. At the quay is also a motorboat with an elevated flybridge
for high sea fishing and equiped with a small Swedish flag. It shows
up to be Bingo, his local knickname, from Sweden living in Cuba and
mostly fishing, his great interest.

The Gulf Stream gives us such a push
that we arrive earlier than calculated at the coast outside Key West.
The latter part is a tiresome close reach against the waves. Only 150
kilometers separate these two totally different countries. Cuba with
low standard and shortage of most supplies and Florida with giant
surplus of everything. An extraordinary example of the extremes of
plan economy and market economy. As the long channel to Key
West is well lit with leading lines and buoys we enter in the dark
and anchor among other yachts outside Historic
Seaport.

The
following morning we lie in the opposite direction as when we
anchored. Strong tidal currents turn around Xavita four times every
day. Many yachts lie at anchor far out in the bay, many of them seem
to be unmanned. Our dinghy takes us to the marina and a further taxi
ride to the customs at the airport. The door is locked and we have to
call a special telephone number to have an armed officer to come and
open the door and do the clearance. To avoid problems we say we have
arrived directly from Mexico, as Cuba is under embargo and other
sailors have had problems at arrival in the US. No more questions and
we get the stamps.

The
Coast Guard base next to our anchorage is decorated with flags as a
new ship is inagurated. They have really big ships all armed with
cannons and some with helicopters. Also the RIBs chasing dinghies
without lights in the evenings have machine guns in the bow. If you
have made enemies out in the big world, you better protect yourself
against terrorist attacs. A beautiful trumpet solo is heard from the
base at sunset.

Key
West has many old beatiful double floor wooden houses. We enjoy
seeing all in good shape.

A
nice contrast to Cuba. While waiting for fair winds we are
provisioning in the well sorted supermarkets, eating tasty hamburgers
and making the laundry. Every now and then a tour boat passes our
anchorage overloaded with tourists and with loud music. If you have
lot of money you charter a motor cruiser with a band onboard and go
around for some hours with your friends while sipping drinks.

Finally
the continuous easterly wind decreases and we motor the whole way to
Miami outside all keys with a tiresome sea on the nose and lightning
in the night sky. Also to Miami we arrive too early due to the
current. Waiting for some cruise ships to pass before entering in the
first morning light. High rise buildings pop up as mushrooms on both
sides of the channel. Suddenly there is a RIB with flashing blue
light at our side. Coast Guard stops us from passing the quay where
the cruise ships are moored. We have to turn around and go back and
pass through the container harbour. We could be terrorists underway
to hijack a cruise ship.

Some
years earlier our sailing friends Bosse and Helene from Gothenburg
have arrived here with their yacht “seaQwest” and settled down in
Miami. The AIS shows that they are at anchor south of Miami and we
sneak up and give them an early surprise in the morning. We have a
warm reunion after several years. Together we go northwards in the
shallow and narrow Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW) straight through
Miami. Bridges are opened underway to their house on one of the
islands in Miami and we let the anchor go in front of their terrace.

A
week follows with nice time together, with tasty dinners made by the
barbeque king Bosse and visit to a cosy restaurant. Helene takes us
around for provisioning and to outlets. We prepare Xavita for the
coming Atlantic crossing and enjoy their hospitality.

When
most of the weather forecasts agree of a suitable departure date for
Bermuda, we go along ICW northwards between beautiful one family
houses at the seafront and fantastic high rise buildings. ICW is a
protected waterway just inside the sandbanks along the coast from
Miami all the way up to Chesapeake Bay at Washington DC. We follow it
during 4 hours to Fort Lauderdale where we go out into the ocean and
take a course to Bermuda.